Having lower back and hip pain now a days seems  very common. At least four out of five people will have it at some point in their life. Some people tend to have more symptoms than others and some factors are controllable, while others are not. Educating yourself more about lower back and hip pain is the first step towards being pain free.

The Three Categories Of Lower Back And Hip Pain

The three categories of lower back and hip pain are determined depending on how long your pain lasts and how often it occures. If the pain lasts less than three months, it is referred to as acute. Most back pain is of this type. It is easy to deal with and there is no need for a doctors care. Get yourself a few days of bed rest, then back on your feet and work through the pain. Exercise will assist with working out the pain, as will analgesics.

Some people suffer from recurring acute pain. While it is bothersome and frustrating to have the pain return, if you treat it carefully as before, it should go away again, hopefully forever this time.

If you have lower back and hip pain last longer than three months, and you are in pain most of the time,then  you have what is known as chronic back pain. It is advisable that you talk to your primary care physician, or try an alternative method, such as chiropractic care or acupuncture. Be sure to find a qualified professional, as you do not want to aggravate the problem!

 Hip and lower back pain during pregnancy changes the rules. Pregnant women can have backaches off and on throughout their pregnancy, primarily due to the growing uterus and straining ligaments. But once the baby is delivered, the back pain should ease.

 Likely Causes?

There can be many causes to lower back and hip pain. The most common cause being muscle strain, sciatica, an uneven pelvis or even one leg shorter than the other. You could have flat feet, or you even have very weak muscles that do not do an adequate job of protecting your spine. There are also other things that can cause lower back and hip pain.

Piriformis Syndrome: What Is It?

Piriformis syndrome is an inflammation in the piriformis muscle. This muscle is found very deep within the buttock, and it is the muscle that helps our hips to rotate. If there is tightness in the hamstring, the piriformis can become inflamed and sore, even to the outside back section of the buttock. It can swell and put pressure and inflammation on the sciatic nerve too, causing sciatica. Sitting can also aggravate this situation.

To relieve the lower back and hip pain and swelling, it is wise to use ice (wrapped in a towel for twenty minutes, several times a day). Taking an anti-inflammatory medicine will also help, if you don’t mind taking a drug to ease matters. If touch is tolerable, massage the muscle deep into the tissues. Also strengthen and stretch out the hip area, using exercises targeting the hip, lower back and hamstring muscles.

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Sleep disorders are likely to be treated less seriously than other disorders. But studies show that a neglected sleep disorder can even cause a stroke. The risk factors also include hypertension, diabetes and heart problems.

Apnea or apnoea is suspended breathing. It refers to a usual pattern of pauses in the breathing pattern .But you are possibly suffering from obstructive sleep apnea if you have breathing pauses in your sleep. What makes it more alarming is that if you suffer from sleep apnea, you may not be aware of it yourself. Sleep apnea is of three types, namely, central, obstructive and complex apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the result of an obstruction in the air passage where in the air forces through itself noisily. And you snore. A physical block in the air passage is due to the relaxation of the soft tissues in the throat. If you have apnea for more than 20 seconds and repeatedly in sleep then you need serious medical attention. And this can remain unknown and unattended for years. OSA patents generally suffer from fatigue and drowsiness in the morning. Sleepiness in the daytime is one of the major causes of accidents. OSA is found mostly in men and in aged people.

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) and Stroke

Severe sleep apnea doubles the risk of stroke than anything else. It need not cause a stroke independently but can lead to several other physical conditions which can ultimately result in a stroke. A person is considered to have severe sleep apnea when his breathing stops for 20 times in an hour. When breathing is interrupted several times, the body, deprived of its oxygen prepares itself for a fight. And this response results in the clotting of blood. Blood clots hinder the oxygen supply to the brain leading to stroke. It is the decreased blood oxygen saturation that causes a stroke. OSA is often a reason for high blood pressure and high blood pressure has great a tie up with stroke.

OSA and Heart

The repeated pauses in breathing deny oxygen supply to the brain. The increase in the carbon dioxide level activates the sympathetic nervous system. This in turn causes spikes in the blood pressure and increases the blood pressure and the heart rate. A systemic cardiac resistance develops when there is a change in the volume of blood pumped into the heart.

People suffering from undiagnosed OSA have an increasing mortality rate. A lot many people are treated for cardiovascular diseases. But many OSA patients go untreated mainly because they or their partners do not recognize the symptoms.

The symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea are as follows :

• Load and heavy snoring
• Apnea or pauses in breathing during sleep.
• Sleepiness and headache in the morning
• Memory loss
• Inability to concentrate
• Weight gain
• Lethargy
• High Blood Pressure

- Aparna KV

Tags: blood pressure, obesity, acupuncture, herbs, diabetes

Acupuncture and Acupressure

Every kid is a combination of his/her dad and mom. My dad is a scientist and does nothing unless his brain agrees. Infact his head rules his heart, rarely is he seen demonstrating his emotions without his head ruling them. That’s why the first lesson he taught me was to reason every statement made by others. Even if I was asked to drink more water and avoid soft drinks, I would ask, ‘why’? On the other hand my mom was a literary person, a writer, an artist and a talented dramatist. She let her heart and soul rule her head at times and that made her a softer person.

The fact that both my parents have an impact on me is illustrated by the fact that I never believed in alternative medicine because of the very fact that no one was in a position to ever explain the reasons for the benefits from these practices. This strengthened my belief of these practices being ambiguous, unscientific and close to superstitions. However as I am gaining more and more experience, I am realizing that many people are benefited from these practices. Aromatherapy, water therapy , Acupressure and Acupuncture are some of these common alternative therapies. Today modern medicine does not offer cure for arthritis, advanced cancers, spondylolysis and chronic back pain due to swelling and blurbing. All these and many more are more than mitigated by these systems. It is due to this, that patients and caregivers frustrated with allopathy and surgeries, don’t mind trying another system and are benefited in most cases.

The rise in the number of followers of acupressure and acupuncture is globally known. Today a person may be considered backward and unaware if he does not believe in the benefits of the same. My mom’s softer genes have made me realize that matured people and many in number , if satisfied have to be doing something right. His is when I began my research on acupressure and acupuncture.

What is Acupressure?

This is a traditional Chinese system of medicine and therapy. This system recognizes certain points on the body which are responsible for the therapeutic effects of different kinds. These points are located along various imaginary lines or axis on the body which are termed as meridians. There are around 15-20 meridians on a human body. Each meridian has points on them right from the beginning to the end. It is to be realized that all the points on the meridian are not the points in this system as then the points along one axis itself would be countless and the practice would be impossible. Only those areas which are responsible for the therapeutic response in the body are considered as points.

By applying pressure on these points a therapeutic effect is created on the linked organ or body part. However it is to be appreciated that action on the throat can be achieved by pressure on a point on the wrist. This means that the points recognized in the system are not always near the organ they would effect. This may sound illogical. But I think meaning can be made out of it.

The very fact that the body is divided into meridians and a group of points on the meridian are responsible for some efficacious results means that there is a link or coordination between different areas of the body. As such we know from our scientif